


At This Point, We Have Nothing to Lose

by IndigoFudge



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Desperate times call for desperate measures, Eddie Kaspbrak Lives, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, First Kiss, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Gay Richie Tozier, Kiss of Life, M/M, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Sexuality Crisis, Short One Shot, magical healing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27652997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndigoFudge/pseuds/IndigoFudge
Summary: Sitting in a corner of the cave and slowly bleeding out, Eddie remembers how Ben woke Bev up from the Deadlights when they were little.Maybe it would work for more than just those damn lights...orEddie asks Richie to kiss him while he's dying in a last-ditch attempt to save his life.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 8
Kudos: 91





	At This Point, We Have Nothing to Lose

"Dude, I'm fucking bleeding out, can you not sing the Bee Gees right now?" 

Richie cuts off in the middle of Stayin' Alive. "Get it? Because you're-"

"Dying. I know." Eddie gives a tight-lipped smile and breathes through the pain. Blood has already soaked through Richie's leather jacket, rendering it useless. The claw went all the way through him anyway. He knows he's a lost cause - he can feel it, feel himself leaving, slipping further away with every exhale.

"No, because you're staying alive," says Richie, frowning. "You're not _dying,_ Eddie."

Eddie can't tell if Richie truly believes that or if he's just in denial. Either way, it's not helpful. "Kind of am. I've lost, like, all of my blood, and they don't look like they're anywhere near done killing It."

Richie firmly shakes his head. " _Stop._ I'm serious, man, you're not fucking dying. I won't let you. I just got you back, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah." Eddie slumps further. He's not trying to keep himself upright anymore, but even if he was, it wouldn't do any good - his entire body is too weak to move. "Hey. Fuckhead. I changed my mind, you can keep singing. S'too quiet over here otherwise."

So Richie sits next to Eddie against the wall and resumes his awful rendition of Stayin' Alive, and at some point before the end of the song Eddie lets his head fall onto Richie's shoulder. It's kind of nice, actually. After a while the wound doesn't even hurt anymore.

Then all of a sudden Richie is nudging him awake and saying " _Hey,_ asshole, don't go falling asleep on me. I was right in the middle of telling you all about the weird mole my doctor found on my di-"

"Beep _beep,_ Richie," Eddie grumbles. "I don't need to hear about your melanoma."

"Aw, your mom _loved_ it. _She_ said..." Richie puts on a truly awful high-pitched voice. " _Oh, Richie,_ I _adoooooore_ it when you tell me in detail about your _dick tumor."_

(' _That's not what my dad said. He said you have a tumor... on your_ dick,' remembers Eddie, paling.)

Richie's face changes immediately. "Whoa, hey, what's wrong? Need me to slap you awake again?"

"N-no, no." Eddie shakes his head. "I'm fine. Just remembering something. Goddamn bitch Gretta Keene - she told me once that _I_ had a tumor on _my_ dick. S'what I remembered when I was getting my artifact." Blood pools in the back of his mouth; he coughs it up. 

"Shit, Eds."

"I know." Eddie's eyelids droop. "All in the past now. Whatever. I... I got the fuckin' inhaler, I was brave, and I still couldn't kill It."

"So?" says Richie. "You got me out of the Deadlights. I don't know how, but you did. That _was_ you, right? You didn't just come swooping in at the last second and steal Mike's thunder or something?"

Eddie rolls his eyes. "Shut _up._ Yes. It was me. I threw the fuckin' fencepost. Sorry, I know you were probably hoping I kissed you, but there's no way I'd touch _your_ Trashmouth with a ten foot pole." He grins lazily, allowing his mind to wander. _Maybe if I_ had _kissed him,_ he thinks, _everything would be different now. Maybe magic kisses in Derry can do more than just wake someone up from the Deadlights._

 _But then again, if that's true..._ An idea is forming in his mind - a nervewracking idea, but an idea nonetheless. Since kisses can break the spell of the Deadlights, maybe they're good for more than that. Maybe... just maybe...

"Richie," whispers Eddie. "I'm gonna say something, and it's gonna- I need you to bear with me."

"Okay, what?" Richie's whispering too, as if the two of them are sharing some secret, as if they're at a slumber party staying up and talking long after everyone else has gone to bed.

Eddie turns his head so he's looking up at Richie. "I want you to kiss me. The- the Deadlights - you can kiss someone out of them, right? So I thought... and maybe it's stupid... that you can kiss me out of- _this."_ He tries to gesture at his wound, but can't move his hands. 

" _Oh,_ " Richie breathes. "Mhm, I see what you're saying." His face is shadowed with an unreadable emotion - _fear?_ He helps Eddie sit up all the way. "And you really want to do this? You're _sure?_ Thought you said you wouldn't touch my Trashmouth with a ten foot pole."

"It might be worth it if I can avoid fucking _death_ ," huffs Eddie. "Yeah. I'm sure. Now let's hurry up and do it, because I don't think I have much _time-"_

His sentence is abruptly - ~~_and very pleasantly_~~ \- cut off by Richie's mouth pressed to his. He sighs into the kiss, letting his eyes slip shut; he's utterly _exhausted_ and hopes that whatever kiss magic Derry may be performing can be done without any further action from him. 

"S'it working?" he mumbles against Richie's lips. "I can't feel anything."

"I- I don't know." Richie's voice is hushed. "I don't see any- any bursts of pixie dust, or whatever." His tone rises in pitch, a bit hysterically. "Hey, Derry - you were perverted enough to bring Bev back from the Deadlights after Ben kissed her. Can you show that same kindness to Eds here? Come _on_ , if something is going to happen, it better happen _right the fuck now._ "

And as if Richie's words were the last push, something does happen. It's not really what Eddie _feels,_ but it's what he _doesn't_ feel that alerts him to a change. His next breath comes easily instead of rumbling in his chest. He startles. "Jesus _Christ_ , Richie!" 

"What? What is it?!" Richie runs his hands over Eddie's chest, feeling for some kind of magic miracle. When he touches smooth skin where there had previously been a gaping wound, he _whoops._ "Holy shit! Eddie!! We did it!" He wraps Eddie into a tight bear hug, laughing with exhilaration.

Eddie lets himself laugh too. Pulling back a bit, he stares directly into Richie's eyes. His heart throbs in his newly healed chest. "Hey - maybe it's just the adrenaline rush from being magically sewn up," he says, "but I, uh. Kind of want to kiss you? Again?" He's practically sitting in Richie's lap, after all; their mouths are inches away.

Richie's shoulders sag with what Eddie hopes is relief. "That's a coincidence, because I kind of want to kiss you too."

They kiss not one, not two, but three more times, each more passionate than the last, until the others return with anxious eyes and hands ready to haul Richie out. Eddie sees, he _knows_ that everyone else didn't expect him to still be alive. But he is, so fuck it. He stands up and dusts himself off. One hand sticks out; Richie grabs it.

"Let's blow this fucking popsicle stand."

And they do.

And they're happy.

Because sometimes turtles look down on their creations and smile and decide to give them a new lease on life.

(At the same time as Richie and Eddie's lifesaving kiss, in a Georgia morgue, a curly haired man wakes up with a gasp and asks for Patricia Uris. And days later, after several frantic phone calls and text exchanges, seven Losers meet each other in an airport and engage in a very tearful group hug.

Happy endings are possible, you know. With love and trust. And sometimes with a kiss.)


End file.
